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Book 

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CQEXRIGHT BEPOSm 



A FIRE IN THE SNOW 



BOOKS BY DR. JEFFERSON 



Quiet Talks with the Family 

Quiet Talks with Earnest People 

Quiet Hints to Growing Preachers 

The Minister as Prophet 

The Minister as Shepherd 

Christianity and International Peace 

Doctrine and Deed 

Things Fundamental 

The Character of Jesus 

The: New Crusade 

Building of the Church 

Why We may Believe in Life After Death 

Talks on High Themes 

Christmas Builders 

The Cause of the War 



A FIRE 
IN THE SNOW 



BY 

CHARLES EDWARD JEFFERSON 

PASTOR OF BROADWAY TABERNACLE 
NEW YORK CITY 



NEW YORK 

THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



P' -i 



.5 



••H 



COPYBIGHT, 1916, 

By THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY 




aA446664 



A Fire in the Snow 

I ONCE saw a group of boys on 
a chill winter morning, gathered 
around a fire which they had kin- 
dled in the snow. The materials 
for the fire had been wrested from 
the clutch of winter. With their 
naked hands the boys had dug 
down through the icy covering 
with which the recent storm had 
wrapped the earth, and had 
brought to the surface a batch of 
autumn leaves, dry and faded, 
which the wind had collected, and 
deposited in a convenient crevice, 

5. 



A Fire in the Snow 



just in time for their burial by the 
snow. Twigs were also found, 
each boy secured a handful, and 
finally out of the heart of a huge 
snowdrift were dragged several 
branches of a tree which had died 
a few months before, and whose 
death seemed almost providential, 
for without it there could have 
been no fire in the snow. It was 
great sport to- gather together the 
material, and every boy did his 
part. The principle of coopera- 
tion is deep embedded in the stuff 
which boys are made of. Like 
beavers they work harmoniously 

6 



A Fire in the Snow 



together for the accomplishment 
of then' ends. There was such a 
bonfire started in the hearts of 
the boys while they were getting 
the fagots, that they were all aglow 
before the first twig had contrib- 
uted its quota of heat to the minia- 
ture conflagration. There was a 
lire in the boys before there was 
a fire in the snow. 

But a fire- in the mind is not 
enough, and so fragments of the 
branches were piled on top of 
the twigs, the twigs having been 
heaped on top of the leaves, and 
then by the help of a small wooden 

7 



A Fire in the Snow 



wizard which one of the boys hap- 
pened to have in his pocket, there 
came into existence that beautiful 
and mysterious phenomenon — a 
fire. 

The fire did not mind its frigid 
surroundings. It was not daunted 
by the world's cool reception. Un- 
like certain people it did not sur- 
render simply because its environ- 
ment was adverse. It crackled 
and sputtered and sparkled, and 
made all sorts of good natured 
noises, and cut up ever so many 
vivacious little capers. It was as 
happy as it would have been on 

8 



A Fire in the Snow 



a balmy summer morning. It 
fairly danced and laughed out 
loud when it looked at the sun. 
It counted it a joke, apparently, 
to be permitted to hold up its 
head in the midst of such arctic 
surroundings. 

But the fire was not so jubilant 
as the boys. They were, figura- 
tively speaking, ablaze. And no 
wonder, for this was no ordinary 
fire. A fire in the house is one 
thing, a fire out of doors is an- 
other. A fire on the hearth has a 
beauty, but a fire in the snow has 
a fascination. One fire differs 

9 



A Fire in the Snow 



from another fire in glory. A 
fire in the grate is commonplace. 
But a fire in the snow is a specta- 
cle. Some people would call it 
a miracle. It is above Nature. 
Nature makes snow, and Nature 
produces fire, but Nature, unless 
assisted, never mixes the two. It 
is only when human beings inter- 
fere with the processes of Nature, 
that one sees such a wonder as 
that of fire burning in the midst 
of the snow. 

And so the pleasure of the boys 
was due in no small measure to 
their sense of victory over the 

10 



A Fire in the Snow 



routine of Nature. Boys love to 
do things, especially things which 
other people do not do. Most 
persons are content to light a fire 
in the grate: only boys kindle a 
fire in the snow. It is amazing 
that a boy has in him a force 
which can bring things to pass 
which the universe, if left to itself, 
could not accomplish in a million 
years. Boys are always doing 
things which older people do not 
attempt. And that is why to all 
of us on looking backward the 
light which lies on life's earlier 
years looks like enchantment. 

11 



A Fire in the Snow 



Heaven lay around us in our 
childhood because we were always 
building fires in the snow. 

These boys did not kindle their 
fire because they were cold. Who 
ever heard of a boy being cold in 
winter? A boy is ashamed to 
make a fire in order to make him- 
self comfortable. Boys hate to do 
things which are useful. They 
love to do things which are novel 
and dramatic and startling. They 
kindled this fire for fun. They 
wanted to see fire burn in the 
snow. 

When they stood round the 
12 



A Fire in the Snow 



blaze, their satisfaction was more 
than physical. They had a bodily 
sensation — pleasure, and they had 
a mental sensation — ^joy. It is a 
joy to look into a fire even if it 
be a tame fire burning on a com- 
monplace hearth. Fire, when it 
burns in a conventional manner, 
has nevertheless a mystical poten- 
cy over the heart. Why, do you 
suppose, one's mood changes when 
he sits down in a big easy chair, 
and looks steadfastly into the face 
of a fire? Why does an unimagi- 
native mortal become poetic, a 
fagged and disgruntled creature 

IS 



A Fire in the Snow 



become genial, and why does a 
prosaic man or woman begin to 
dream and build castles in the 
air? May it not be because the 
logs are built of sunlight — jails 
as it were in which sunbeams are 
imprisoned, and that the sunbeams 
on making their escape are so 
hilarious that a part of their rap- 
ture is radiated into the soul? 
May it not be the leaping joy of 
the sunbeams set free which causes 
the heart to rejoice? We only 
know that fire is a magician. It 
stimulates the imagination. It 
mesmerizes the spirit. It holds 

14 



A Fire in the Snow 



one tight in the grip of its magical 
spell. And when it burns in the 
snow its wizardry is augmented. 
On the hearth it is an angel — it 
is an archangel in the snow. To 
compel the Lord of heat and the 
Lord of cold to sit down together 
— this is an audacious and roman- 
tic thing to do. To spread the 
red of a blaze over the white of 
a snowdrift, to put eggs of fire 
into a nest of ice, to cause the 
fire-fairies to dance on a floor 
covered with snow crystals, to toss 
flowers of flame upon the bleak 
and biting air, to extend the scep- 

15 



A Fire in the Snow 



ter of the fire-king over the prov- 
ince of frost, to create a glowing 
oasis of summer in the vast and 
freezing desert of winter — this is 
a mighty work which only a crea- 
ture fashioned in the image of the 
Eternal is able to perform. 

What is Christmas but a fire 
burning in the snow? December 
is a synonym for snow. It is pre- 
eminently the month of ice. The 
poets sing of December with a 
shiver. They remind us of the 
bitter blasts which blow 

^^In the depths of drear December 
When the white doth hide the green." 

16 



A Fire in the Snow 



When our Quaker poet sits down 
to write his ''Snow Bound/' he 
cannot keep away from Decem- 
ber: 

"The sun that brief December day 
Rose cheerless over hills of gray, 
And darkly circled, gave at noon 
A sadder light than fading moon." 

When Shakespeare wishes to con- 
trast the heat of summer with its 
opposite, his muse promptly sug- 
gests ''December snow." Just as 
roses are the accepted symbol of 
June, so are snowdrifts the em- 
blem of the last month of the 
year. 

17 



A Fire in the Snow 



And in this month of snow 
there burns a fire — Christmas — 
the warmest, most radiant, most 
glorious of all the days. One can- 
not think of Christmas without 
feeling a growing warmth around 
the heart. Who ever thought of 
Christmas with a shiver? It is 
swayed and bent by icy blasts, 
but we forget the blasts when we 
think of Christmas. The snow is 
drifted round its door, but we do 
not mind the snow. It is summer 
time when we think of Christmas. 
Indeed Christmas is all the love- 
lier because of its bleak surround- 

18 



A Fire in the Snow 



ings. The Home nest never seems 
so cosy as when set in the branches 
of the December tempest. The 
Christmas tree has a heightened 
beauty because projected against 
a bank of white. Christmas is one 
of God's mighty works — it is his 
fire burning in the snow. 

It was his son, Jesus of Naz- 
areth, who kindled it long ago. 
The world was cold indeed when 
Jesus was born in Bethlehem. 
The whole earth was wrapped in 
ice. Benumbing storms raged 
across the lands. Into the midst 
of our drear world-winter, there 

19 



A Fire in the Snow 



stepped this man with a heart of 
fire. "I am come to cast fire upon 
the earth," he said. He did it. In 
the heart of humanity he kindled 
a fire which for two thousand 
years has been burning brighter 
and brighter to the present hour. 
And the fire will go on burning 
until the ice has all been melted, 
and the atmosphere of every con- 
tinent and of every island of the 
sea has been made rich with the 
fragrance of the flowers of Para- 
dise. It is the world's most cheer- 
ful spectacle — this fire burning 
perennially in the snow. 

20 



A Fire in the Snow 



Our ability to celebrate Christ- 
mas in December is beautiful 
proof that we are citizens of a 
higher world. We are made of 
something more than dust. We 
are not bits and pieces of a physi- 
cal machine, puppets played on 
and moulded solely by material 
forces. We are in the world, and 
yet above it. The planet has its 
weather, but we are independent 
of its weather, we can manufac- 
ture weather of our own. We 
can make bright days beneath 
leaden skies, we can cause roses 
to blossom in icy gales. We are 

21 



A Fire in the Snow 



not bond-servants of the seasons. 
They come and go according to 
laws which our little planet knows 
and honors, but we make seasons 
of our own. We can create June 
in the ice caves of winter, we can 
build December amidst the blos- 
soms and perfumes of May. We 
can live in a world of light when 
the face of the sun is hidden. The 
sun floods the streets of the city, 
it cannot flood the streets of the 
soul. Icy winds sometimes blow 
across the fields, while fragrant 
zephyrs are blowing across the 
moors and meadows of the mind. 

22 



A Fire in the Snow 



The wind can pile the snow in 
drifts along the highway, it can- 
not toss a single snowflake into 
the chamber of the heart. We are 
above Nature. We are throned 
monarchs of the world and the 
year. Christmas bears witness to 
the fact that we are related to the 
Higher Powers. We are miracle 
workers. We can do things which 
the cosmic forces cannot do. We 
can cause fire to burn in the snow. 
Did you ever ask yourself why 
it always becomes balmy at Christ- 
mas time? No matter what the 
thermometer says, the weather is 

23 



A Fire in the Snow 



genial on Christmas, The ther- 
mometer is a stupid thing. It 
does not know the A B C's of 
life. It cannot tell the tempera- 
ture of the world in which people 
live. It reports the condition of 
the physical atmosphere, but it 
knows nothing about the tem- 
perature of the soul. On Christ- 
mas morning, therefore, nobody 
pays attention to the thermometer. 
Everybody knows that no matter 
what the thermometer may say, 
the weather is ideal. The ther- 
mometer is an expert on snow, 
but the fire in the snow is beyond 

24 



A Fire in the Snow 



it. The snow is of the earth 
earthy, the Christmas fire is a 
visitor from heaven. 

If you ask why it is so summer- 
like at Christmas, the answer is, 
human hearts have come closer 
together. Heat in the human 
world is created by the touching 
of hearts. When one wishes to 
make a fire on the hearth, he 
brings combustibles together. If 
he wishes a small fire, he brings 
few, if he wishes a big fire, he 
brings many. But one cannot 
build a fire out of one combus- 
tible alone. Even a pine stick 

25 



A Fire in the Snow 



does not like to burn by itself. 
It will, if coaxed and encouraged, 
make the attempt, but the prog- 
ress is slow, and the pine stick 
is likely to fall into a bad humor, 
and to say in a puff of black 
smoke, ''I am going to quit!" If 
you bring two sticks together, 
then both are encouraged. One 
helps the other, and the labor is 
lightened. But even two sticks 
have many discouragements, and 
unless the wind gives them many 
a lift, they are likely to falter, 
and at last give up altogether. 
Every one has seen two sticks 

26 



A Fire in the Snow 



struggle, and stumble, and finally 
sink down in despair. But add a 
third stick and success is almost 
certain. Add a fourth, and a 
fifth, and a sixth, and every doubt 
is extinguished. Now throw on a 
whole armful of sticks, and the 
victory is immediate and glorious. 
Every stick exults and sings at 
its work, and the flames leap up 
the chimney with a great shout of 
red laughter. 

The Christmas fire is built out 
of people. The Christmas blaze 
is created by the union of hearts. 
Nobody can celebrate Christmas 

27 



A Fire in the Snow 



alone. A Christmas in solitude is 
unthinkable. Even men in prison 
do not stay in prison on Christ- 
mas. On that day an angel of 
the Lord stands by the prisoner 
in his cell, and the iron gate opens 
of its own accord, and the soul of 
the prisoner goes out to hold com- 
munion with some other soul far 
away. It is only when two or 
three are gathered together, that 
the Christmas fire becomes pos- 
sible. The temperature of the 
spirit world rises whenever two 
hearts approach each other, and 
Christmas day is tropical because 
so many hearts have met. 

28 



A Fire in the Snow 



At Christmas time, parents 
come closer to their children, and 
children come closer to their par- 
ents than at any other season of 
the year. When are hugs so 
abundant, and kisses so spon- 
taneous as in those frigid days 
which lie in front of Christmas? 
What endless thinking and plan- 
ning and dreaming! Every thought 
is a thought of good will. Every 
plan is a plan framed by affec- 
tion. Every dream is made lumi- 
nous by love. No wonder the 
temperature rises! Brothers and 
sisters come closer together. They 

29 



A Fire in the Snow 



may have had misunderstandings 
in October, and quarrels in No- 
vember, but all these are melted 
and disappear in December. A 
quarrel melts in December like a 
snowball in Jime. 

It is not only brothers and sis- 
ters who come closer together, but 
also uncles and aunts, and grand- 
parents and cousins. It is amaz- 
ing how large the family becomes 
at Christmas. And the bigger, 
the better. Small dinner parties 
are allowable on ordinary days, 
but not on Christmas. It requires 

30 



A Fire in the Snow 



a numerous company to build an 
ideal fire in the snow. 

There are always more persons 
present than one can count in the 
body. Christmas is a kind, gen- 
erous, and charitable time. The 
heart expands at Christmas. The 
sympathies take the wings of the 
morning and dwell in the utter- 
most parts of the town, and hover 
over the outer edges of one's so- 
cial world. Little boys and girls 
whom we have never thought of 
all year, come trooping into the 
mind at Christmas; and needy 
men and women whom we have 

31 



A Fire in the Snow 



known and almost forgotten, rise 
up before the mind's eye at Christ- 
mas. All mankind becomes hu- 
man at Christmas. Everybody 
seems to be related to us, and we 
feel related to everybody else. 
The whole human race is sud- 
denly transformed into one huge 
family, and we slide down deeper 
into the sweet meanings of love. 
This meeting of hearts causes a 
change in the climate. The gulf 
stream swings inward, and the 
whole continent of our life is cov- 
ered with tropical bloom. Our 
prejudices and antipathies and 

32 



A Fire in the Snow 



resentments, which lie through the 
summer like huge snow-banks in 
the heart's shady places, all melt 
and disappear in December. It 
is too sultry for them at Christ- 
mas. 

On Christmas our old friends 
all visit us. They are scattered 
over the world. They are sepa- 
rated from us, some of them by 
thousands of miles, but in spite 
of the distance they all come back. 
And strange to say we have time 
to see them. On many days we 
are too busy to commune with 
our friends. Our tasks and our 

33 



A Fire in the Snow 



cares crowd them out of our 
thought. But on Christmas we 
have no tasks, and our cares are 
at an end, and there is abundance 
of time to make merry with those 
we love. Just as an armful of 
fagots thrown upon the embers 
on the hearth, causes a new flash 
of flame, so do memories thrown 
upon the embers of the mind, in- 
crease the heat and the radiance 
of life. It is always a pleasanter 
world after we have thought a 
while of our friends. 

Thinking even about our ene- 
mies does not chill us — ^not at 

34 



A Fire in the Snow 



Christmas. They do not seem so 
hateful or so odious when we look 
at them through the glow of the 
Christmas fire. There were days, 
when to think of them, tore old 
wounds open, and spread a dark- 
ness across the world; but it is 
otherwise at Christmas. In front 
of the Christmas fire, we can see 
things which are scarcely visible 
on common days. We can see 
good points in our foes and blem- 
ishes in ourselves. We can realize 
that they are not wholly in the 
wrong, and that we are not alto- 
gether in the right. We can, at 

35 



A Fire in the Snow 



Christmas, see that we too were 
hotheaded and unreasonable. We 
fall to wondering how we ever 
came to say the things we did, 
and how we ever came to be so 
stubborn and foolish as we were. 
The Christmas fire sets the mind 
a-roaming, and before one is aware 
just where he is, he has stumbled 
upon an ancient prayer: 'Tor- 
give us our debts as we forgive 
our debtors." That is not an easy 
prayer to offer at any time, in any 
place, but nowhere do the lips so 
readily repeat those heavenly syl- 
lables as in 'front of the Christ- 

36 



A Fire in the Snow 



mas fire. If the thought of one's 
friends is able to raise the tem- 
perature of the world, the kindly 
thought of one's enemies is able 
to lift it higher still. The forgive- 
ness of those who hate us and 
who have done us grievous wrong, 
has in it a higher intensity of 
heat than any other action of the 
soul. It is always summer around 
the heart which has mastered the 
high art of forgiving. Christmas 
is preeminently the day for ban- 
ishing old feuds and grudges, and 
shaking hands across chasms worn 
deep and wide by years of suspi- 

37 



A Fire in the Snow 



cion and ill-will. A man ought 
to be able to forgive the worst of 
his enemies on Christmas. 

"We do pray for mercy, 
And that same prayer doth teach us 

all to render 
The deeds of mercy, 



?> 



An act of forgiveness in a world 
like this is a celestial fire blazing 
in the snow. 

It is a cold, cold world, so men 
have said for many a year, and 
they have spoken truly. Why is 
the world so cold? It is because 
hearts are not together. Let hus- 
band and wife drift apart, and 

38 



A Fire in the Snow 



there comes at once a touch of 
winter into the air. The children 
feel it, and their young hearts too 
are chilled. Home is no longer 
home when hearts are not at one. 
Christmas comes once a year, like 
an angel from the court of heaven, 
to reconcile hearts which have be- 
come estranged, and to sweeten 
spirits which experience has made 
bitter. It may be that the home 
has become cold as the Arctic 
Sea, and that the promises of the 
earlier years have all, like so many 
blossoms, been covered deep with 
snow. But even so, there still is 

39 



A Fire in the Snow 



hope. Why should any heart be- 
come despairful when God makes 
it possible to kindle a fire in the 
snow? 

It is in very truth a cold world. 
All the kingdoms of life are yet 
wrapped in ice. The industrial 
world has a climate like that 
which Peary found around the 
Pole. Why? Because hearts 
there are so far apart from one 
another. The capitalist is sepa- 
rated from the wage-earner by a 
chasm, and the employe is miles 
away from the employer. It is 
because their hearts do not touch, 

40 



A Fire in the Snow 



that feelings are frigid and rela- 
tions are strained. Must the pres- 
ent tragedy continue? Must capi- 
tal and labor everlastingly glare 
at one another out of eyes filled 
with suspicion and hate? Must 
the ice-age last forever? No! It 
is possible for men to come to- 
gether. It is possible for them 
to understand and respect each 
other. It is easy — if men would 
only believe it — to kindle a fire in 
the snow. 

The commercial world is buried 
under snowdrifts. Commerce has 
made thousands of hearts hard 

41 



A Fire in the Snow 



and cold. In multitudes of busi- 
ness men, the higher sentiments 
are all frozen. Icicles have formed 
at the very core of the heart. 
Bargain seeking and market grab- 
bing have an effect on the climate. 
Buying and selling have a ten- 
dency to bring the temperature 
low. Is the business world hope- 
less? Are we to confess that it is 
a permanent province of the king- 
dom of frost? No! Buying and 
selling is a part of our Father's 
business, and it can be carried on 
to the advancement of all that is 
dear to mankind. The snowdrifts 

42 



A Fire in the Snow 



are deep, and the winds icy and 
fierce, but by God's grace it is 
possible to build a fire in the snow. 
All Europe presents today a 
spectacle which appals. A con- 
tinent has slipped back into the 
age of ice. The blossoms have 
perished. The grass is dead. The 
trees are naked. Vast armies, like 
huge glaciers of the geologic 
times, are grinding civilization to 
powder. How shall we account 
for the heart-breaking catastro- 
phe? It has come about through 
fear and hate. The hearts of 
nations drifted apart. They were 

43 



A Fire in the Snow 



forced apart by foolish ambitions, 
and mistaken theories, and false 
ideals. Europe is today in the 
glacial epoch because she is held 
in the grip of twin demons, fear 
and hate. There is nothing in this 
world so cold as hate. It freezes 
the blood of men and of Empires. 
It paralyzes the native feelings of 
the soul. It converts the heart 
into ice. Under the influence of 
hate, men degenerate into bar- 
barians and savages. This is a 
war of atrocities. Brutality and 
inhumanity flow from a heart that 
has grown cold. 

44 



A Fire in the Snow 



Is Europe then lost forever? 
No! God reigns and loves, and 
therefore the future is safe. 
Christmas will come this year to 
Europe, even through the snow. 
Through the drifted and piled-up 
fear and hate, it will make its 
way to the courts of kings, to the 
trenches where the soldiers are, 
and to the homes of peasants 
darkened by the shadow of death. 
Even amid the European snow- 
drifts there are fires burning in 
the hearts of men and women and 
little boys and girls to whom the 
Son of God has communicated the 
45 



A Fire in the Snow 



secret and the rapture of good 
will. These hearts are burning 
under every flag, and some day 
they will come together, and the 
world shall behold a glorious con- 
flagration in the snow. The gla- 
ciers are only for a season. They 
cannot be pulverized by the ma- 
chinery of battle: they will be 
melted by the fire which the good 
God knows how to kindle from 
material he will gather from the 
snow. 

What is our human life but one 
short year — the year ending in a 
bleak and chill December? 

46 



A Fire in the Snow 



"What should we speak of 
When we are old as you? When we 

shall hear 
The rain and wind beat dark Decem- 
ber?" 

Let us speak together of the 
love of God, made manifest in 
Jesus Christ his Son. Let us 
speak often of all the wondrous 
way in which he has led us through 
the years, and let us dream of the 
things in the world of light pre- 
pared for those who love him. 
Let us tell again on each succeed- 
ing Christmas day, the old, old 
story of the baby who was born 
in Bethlehem, and of the man 

47 



A Fire in the Snow 



who died upon the cross, and of 
how a loving God through this 
Man upon the cross keeps plead- 
ing with us through all the years 
to love and serve one another. 
And thus shall we create summer 
in our last December, and to the 
very end keep a fire burning in 
the snow. 



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